Regulators in North Dakota have given their approval for a 1,490-MW natural gas-fired power plant, a combined-cycle station that Basin Electric Power Cooperative officials said would provide the area with its first new base load electric output in more than four decades. South Dakota utility commissioners, meanwhile, are set to consider an application for a smaller, 145-MW gas-fired facility in that state.The North Dakota Public Service Commission on August 7 said the Bison Generation Station project, representing an investment of nearly $4 billion, would be built near Eppling in the northwestern part of the state. It will feature two, 745-MW units, and be built in two phases. The first unit is expected online in 2029, with the second entering commercial operation the following year.
Officials have said the Bison station, which was first announced in January of this year, will use natural gas produced in North Dakota, with officials noting it will support the state’s oil and gas industry.Missouri River Energy Services (MRES), meanwhile, on August 7 announced the utility had applied to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for permission to build the $378-million Toronto Power Plant, a 145-MW gas-fired station in Deuel County in the northeastern part of that state. The project would include four combustion turbine-generators, along with a new 4.9-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission line. It will source natural gas from an existing gas pipeline, and connect to a substation with access to the regional power grid.
